I signed an automatic petition received via e-mail requesting that Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown support Senate filibuster reform.
Follow below to read the response from his office.
Dear Mr. XXXXXXXX:
Thank you for sharing your thoughts about filibusters and the call for the United States Senate to reform its rules.
I understand the frustration caused by the unprecedented number of filibusters and threats of filibusters during recent sessions of Congress. Under Senate Rules, actual floor speeches are not required to invoke a filibuster. If a Senator indicates that he or she intends to filibuster legislation, the Senate may not move on to other business until 60 votes are gathered.
As the Senate convened two years ago for the 112th Congress, many Senators believed it was time to address the filibuster rules. Many of my Senate colleagues called for a reduction in the number of votes required to invoke cloture to move forward to a final vote.
The Senate— with my strong support — voted to end the practice of secret holds in 2011. This means that while a single Senator may still place a hold on legislation or a nomination, he or she must disclose — within two session days — their intent to place such a hold. I believe it is important for government to strive for transparency and the elimination of the secret hold is a step in the right direction.
To address the problem of filibusters, the Senate, at the start of the 113th Congress, revised its rules and adopted a temporary rules change. The Senate revised is rules concerning cloture motions by removing two days from the process and allowing the Senate to move quickly through legislative process instead of waiting for endless quorum calls. It also limits debate time for conference motions to two hours. I voted in favor of these changes on January 24, 2013.
Changes to the standing rules were designed to reduce the threat of filibuster and allow the Senate to better legislate quickly on proposed bills and judicial nominations. I voted in support of these changes on January 24, 2013. Senate Resolution 16 (S. Res. 16) was also passed that same day.
The rules of the Senate certainly can be frustrating, and sometimes prevent action on meaningful legislation, but they also serve to prevent a bare political majority from unfairly fast-tracking legislation that merits serious consideration and some level of consensus.
While it is crucial to preserve the right of the minority, when a legislative process is abused revising our rules merits reconsideration. Should the Senate consider additional future rule changes, I will keep your advocacy in mind. Thank you again for reaching out to me.
Sincerely,
Sherrod Brown
United States Senator
In other words, we Senate Democrats will continue to behave as though the Repuglicans (yes, I misspelled that on purpose) still give a crap about maintaining the so-called "decorum" of the Senate, even though numerous recent events have proven that that's just not the case.